Week 29: Using social online networks in teaching or professional development
Activity 5: Week 29
Using social online networks in
teaching or professional development
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media defines social media as a group of Internet based applications that build on the
ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0 and that allow the
creation and exchange of user-generated content.
Social media has 3 components;
1. Concept (art, information, or meme).
2. Media (physical, electronic, or verbal
3. Social interface (intimate direct, community engagement social viral, electronic broadcast or syndication, or other physical media such as print).
Social media has 3 components;
1. Concept (art, information, or meme).
2. Media (physical, electronic, or verbal
3. Social interface (intimate direct, community engagement social viral, electronic broadcast or syndication, or other physical media such as print).
I am sharing my online social network using Jay and Johnson’s
reflective model.
Descriptive:
At present, I use a small number of apps for social networking. Email
is a method of exchanging messages between people using electronic devices
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email), through
email I am able to connect with educational agencies like Primary esolonline,
tki, Pinterest and NZCER and many more. It is also an effective way to
communicate with people in the teaching profession. We get emails from places that
promote educational programmes for children, for example Auckland Zoo. These programmes
are affordable and provide children with life long experiences that can be used
in their learning journey. Magette (2014) says that despite the obvious
changes in technologies, email correspondence is essential to the success of
students and professionals across a wide range of fields.
I have been a Facebook user for a while now, mainly for connecting
and communicating with friends and families, but then, I have discovered other
great websites through facebook, for example TED talk which is loaded with
inspirational sharing and researches.
Facebook also provides educational information and resources
appropriate for learning, for example, “ Sea Week”. Our team has a facebook page
which relays activities such as trips, programmes, events and newsletters to
our parents. Parents and Whanau appreciate the fact that they are very much
involved with their children’s learning.
Youtube is
one of my favourite apps as it includes a lot of videos on topics we do in
class, e.g. climate change. As well as that, youtube is also loaded with songs
and rhymes for junior students. Children at that level love singing alphabet
songs, and even reciting rhymes suitable for them. Mindlab notes (Week 29) reminds
us that “teachers can use
online social network to seek information, share ideas and even contribute to
the development of deeper knowledge”.
Comparative:
I am still not as advanced as some of my colleagues and people that
I know of in terms of using 21st century tools/apps. I started blogging
this year for the MINDLAB community, it is a requirement for our study but I haven’t
done it regularly. Other apps like twitter and linkedin are quite popular with
colleagues and professionals, and eventhough I am a member of these, however I
am not a regular user. Once I am a regular blogger then I will start teaching
children to blog with other students to share their views and opinions about a
topic. According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog “ blogging provides commentary on a particular
subject or topic……The ability of readers to leave publicly viewable comments,
and interact with other commenters is an important contribution to the
popularity of many blogs”.
Recently I have been receiving emails
from Edmodo, Dropbox, Wordpress, epic and
many more, it is good to know that there are apps available to use in our
field. I have chosen tools like Storybird which
I am familiar with and since my inquiry is about improving students writing
using 21st century tools, this is another app that I will definitely
use to inspire my learners to write. Seesaw on the other hand has been used successfully by a few teachers to
connect with parents/whanau. Once I learn how to operate this, then I will
trial it with my students’ families and whanau.
Some of our teachers
are quite advanced in using tools like Edpuzzle, I have also heard of how
inspired children are since edpuzzle is used in their learning. I am willing to
give this a try especially for supporting second language learners with their
writing. Kathy Cassidy in her video said that “ it is important to use digital
tools where ever possible to teach kids because digital is where kids are at
now”.
Looking
at the Mindlab social media survey helped me reflect on the platforms I currently
use, which is quite limited. I will therefore endeavour to expose children to
relevant digital apps in order to equip them with academic and social tools for
learning. Magette (2014) reminds us that embedding social media
in the classroom helps equip students, beginning even before middle school,
with the skills and judgment to help them become effective communicators in the
spaces where it can count most.
Critical
Reflection
I
understand how effective 21st tools are in building positive
engagement, motivation, creativity and collaboration amongst students but the
limited number of ipads and chromebooks has become a barrier. In some classes,
teachers are making sure each child has an opportunity to use these, but I
believe that if every child has an ipad or chromebook, accelerated learning is
guaranteed.
Accessing
apps like facebook at school is banned during school time, facebook has videos
worth sharing, e.g. what other countries are doing to alleviate climate change
and plastics.
I am
aware of the tools that are inspiring for children but then accessible can be a
barrier for learners and the teachers. On the other hand, my knowledge of operating
some tools need to be more advanced so I can share these with children,
therefore it is important to spend time in practicing and trialling these.
We are in the 21st century and “embedding social media in the classroom helps equip
students, with the skills and judgment to help them become effective communicators
in the spaces where it can count most” (Magette K 2014).
References:
https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/linkedin.htm: How to Use LinkedIn Effectively
Cassidy, Kathy: Using Social Media in the
Classroom. MINDLAB 2018.
Magette,
K. (2014). Embracing
Social Media: a practical guide to manage risk and leverage opportunity.
Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com. Created from unitec on 2018-05-30 18:25:33.
Mindlab notes Week 29
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